Luxembourg - General Patton's Grave - We Spent Sunday In This Small Country - Then Flew To London

General Patton's Grave is the
top American tourist stop here

the second most important grave to me was
Cameron Everhart from Florida

General Patton finished 5th
in the Jim Thorpe Olympics in
pentathlon 

Luxembourg is a tiny country of 2600 square miles - about the size of Rhode Island - our smallest state. It has almost 600,000 people. It has rich deposits of iron which ran a booming steel industry. Now it is the judicial capital of the European Union. It is ruled over by the Grand Duke Henri. The country has one of the highest standards of living in the world. 

We drove from Jodi's Castle in Oberkail to Luxembourg to catch our plane and to see General Patton's grave. It was about 40 miles mostly on the autobahn. 

First - we went to the American Cemetery near the town of Hamm. It is a beautiful peaceful setting - except when the giant jets from the airport come by low. The gardening and landscaping are beautifully detailed. When taking off from the airport - the cemetery can be easily seen just out the left windows. 

Patton was serving as the commander of Bavaria after the war when he was killed in a questionable auto accident. He had a broken back and survived for 11 days. He chose to be buried with his troops near the battle. His grave is the top attraction that draws millions of visitors to this secluded spot. 

We looked up the names - Everhart and Cox - and found those graves. 

After the cemetery - we drove to downtown Luxembourg City to eat and see the points interest. We ate in a Chocolate House just across from the Grand Duke's Palace. The only thing separating us from  the royalty was one lowly honor guard. It was unusual in that the honor guard made eye contact with you. 

After a great hot chocolate and a strange green pancake wrap - I was happy to see a McDonald's that offered hot dogs. Harry Wallesea said - I hope you are not that guy that eats in McDonalds in Europe. Any chance I can get Harry. 

After a short jump over the English Channel to London - we notice all the fireworks over the city for Guy Fawkes Day. We landed by 8 PM - and took the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station. Joan's flat is one short subway stop on the Brown line. We were gabbing with Joan by 9 PM - and in bed by 10 PM. 

The visitor center at the American Cemetery

Cameron Everhart

John Cox - Nancy's Dad was named John Cox

Lots of crosses and stars of David

Royal Palace Luxembourg

This giant Airbus A380 buzzed the cemetery

All grave semi-circled this chapel

You can see the one honor guard of
the Royal Palace of the Grand Duke

General Patton's grave

Cameron Everhart about one week before
World War II ended in 1945.
I was born 3 years later. 

Gate to the American Cemetery near Hamm

Map of the Battle for Europe

Chapel Ceiling

The famous Chocolate Shop for lunch

View of Palace from Chocolate Shop

Royal Palace

Grand Duke Henri

They give you hot milk and a spoon with a chunk of
chocolate on it. There were 20 different spoons.

He was killed in a car accident after
the war.

One of the nicest bathrooms we visited - and we visit plenty -
was at the American Cemetery

Panorama of grave

Panorama of Patton

Everhart

Patton

Normandy Invasion

Cemetery Chapel

City Hall Luxembourg City

American Cemetery beautiful grass

  

Today We Went to the Bitburg Cemetery - Where Reagan Got in Trouble in 1985

Ronald Reagan spoke on that platform in 1985

This tourist had a Bitburg Beer

Bitburg is a famous city - dating back to 200 AD. The Romans passed through this city on the way to England. The main highway went right up the length of the town. 

But the two modern things that Bitburg is famous for is - the Bitburger Brewery - the third most popular beer in Germany. Also - in 1985 Ronald Reagan raised a stink by visiting the graves of some Nazi soldiers at the local cemetery. 

This morning we drove the10 miles from Oberkail to Bitburg. We were virtually alone at the cemetery. It was misty as we searched for the graves. It was a very tidy cemetery - you can see the well manicured graves. 

The military graves were quietly in one corner overlooked by a small cylindrical chapel. We looked at the graves - including about 35 that belonged to the Nazi SS special forces. We looked for names resembling "Everhart" - but nothing. 

We spent maybe an hour there - then we went into downtown Bitburg to shop and have lunch. We stopped in a downtown corner pub that served us potato soup and 1/2 roasted chicken. Lulu tried the Bitburg beer - I had a coke. Later I had a very nice ice cream cone on the plaza for 90 cents - chocolate in a waffle cone. We did not see the sun much today - as it barely broke 50 degrees.

A fresh grave

Soldier grave

Nazi Waffen SS

Nazi stormtrooper

A war memorial

Supper at an Italian Restaurant

Helmut Kunz

The old Roman highway through Bitburg

Tidy graves

SS Emil Jakubetz

Harry Braun - age 18

Decorated graves

Stein

Unknown

Lots of flowers

Imagine keeping  a grave like this

Living In A Castle In Germany

We are enjoying a few nights in Oberkail - Germany. It is a small village of about 600 people. It is about 5 miles from Spangdahlem Air Base - occupied by NATO and the USAF.

Jodi is a school librarian for the Department of Defense School. She is also an FSU graduate and one of Lulu's former  students.

Enjoy this tour of her castle. 

Germany - We are in Oberkail - a Small Village Outside of the City of Trier

Brian - Adonia - Lulu - Jodi - Richard enjoy supper at the monastery

The Palace of Trier

We are in Germany - very close to the border of Luxembourg. We are staying with our friend Jodi in the village of Oberkail - which is a just outside Trier. Trier may be the oldest city in Germany - dating back to 150 AD. 

We left Tallahassee on Wednesday at 6 PM. We had a nice flight to London. In London - we spent about 6 hours in a Yotel - which has tiny 8 x 8 room pods. They include a bed - TV - and bathroom. After that - at about 4 PM Thursday - we flew from London to Luxenbourg. As the sun set - we crossed the English Channel from Dover to Pas De Calais - we could see the beaches of Normandy and the White Chalk Cliffs of Dover. We flew right over Bastogne - the site of the Battle of the Bulge.

We landed in Luxembourg - picked up our Audi A1 rental car - and drove to Oberkail. We were lucky the car had a GPS installed because - we did not have phone service yet and would have been lost. In Oberkail - we spotted Jodi's Castle. 

Jodi was one of Lulu's top students. She was in her first class in London - and one of the 30 Wonders of Project LEAD - an FSU federal project that ended with 30 students earning Master of Science in Library Science degrees. Since then Jodi has been a librarian for the Department of Defense in Japan - and now here in Germany. 

Jodi works at a US military base about 5 miles from here. She lives in this beautiful castle. She drives a Mercedes SUV. Her home is beautiful - and it will be a separate story following this. She made the mistake of inviting us to come over. 

We love Germany. We are in the Rhineland - it is such a tidy place. Imagine that - most of the people drive Mercedes - Porsches- Audis - and Volkswagens. Their tidy homes and yards remind me of the Pennsylvania Dutch farms south of our home in Pennsylvania. 

We toured Trier today. We shopped in the old downtown. We bought simm chips for our iphone 7s. The cost of full service including - email - text messages - surfing the net - phone calls - is 10 euros for 1 GB of data - it is good for a month. How about that for a monthly phone bill - 10 euros - about $11. 

We had brat sandwiches for 2 euros for lunch. We also had some parties.

At 6 PM - near Oberkail - we went to a monastary for supper. I had dumplings filled with meat.  There were 6 of us in our dinner party. We got home at 9 PM - where Lulu crashed in bed. I promised myself I would publish this before I went to bed. 

We have 2 more nights here - we are going to visit the military base tomorrow. Lulu was never in a PX Store on a military base. We will be home in time to see the FSU/Syracuse football game on our Slingbox. We will fly to London - to be with Joan on Sunday night. 

This is our Avis rental- Audi A1. I had it over 100 MPH on the autobahn

Trier Palace

Shopping in downtown Trier - 48 degrees and cloudy - sunset

This is the oldest Roman Gate - Porto  Negri - 150 AD - Trier

Check out these neat stone steps - I bought our phone chips here

Town Square statue - Trier

Karl Marx home in Trier - he is not a dirty word here

Buyign pastries in Trier

Karl Marx house sign

This is Jodi's Castle - build in 1350.

Jodi's Castle - her Mercedes - and our Audi

The back of Jodi's Castle

Our room is the third floor skylight

Her garden patch

The sunset as we passed over Bastogne at 5 PM

Jodi and Richard in her kitchen - Richard is also a teacher  at a different base.

Tallahassee FL to London England Today

We ill fly Delta from Tallahassee to London

Our plane to Atlanta just arrived. We will fly to Atlanta - and then overnight to London. We will then take a short jump to Luxembourg and finally a car to Oberkail Germany. Our trip will be 17 days - featuring - Luxembourg - Germany - maybe France - maybe Belgium. We will also stay in London - Glasgow - and Blackpool.

While in Europe we will visit with our friends Joan and Jodi.

In Blackpool we plan to attend a show by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Gerry Marsden is 74 years old now.